1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a selecting device, a selecting method, and a selecting program storage medium which are configured to select at least one program out of recorded programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has become a common practice that antennas and television tuners for receiving television waves are incorporated in personal computers. Accordingly, it is becoming a common practice today to view television programs, or to record distributed television programs, by use of a personal computer. In addition, it is also put into practice that programs dedicated to personal computers are distributed through the Internet free of charge. As a result, it is anticipated that there is an increase in the number of users utilizing personal computers instead of television sets or video cassette recorders.
Incidentally, since a personal computer includes a large-capacity hard disk device, it is possible to record numerous programs without regard to the remaining capacity. Moreover, unlike a video cassette recorder with a videotape, it is possible to store the recorded programs without using a large space. In addition, it is easier to copy the recorded programs to digital versatile disks (DVDs) and the like, and to delete unnecessary programs. Accordingly, there are many users who record whatever programs, which they are interested in, for the time being, in their personal computers. As a consequence, in some cases, a number of unviewed programs may be stored in hard disk devices in those personal computers. A list of recorded programs is usually displayed when the recorded programs are browsed and dubbed, so that a desired program is selected from the list. However, it is difficult to select a desired program from the recorded programs, when a large number of unviewed programs are recorded and the list simply displays titles of the programs and distribution dates and times thereof.
Concerning this problem, the Official Gazette of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. H-11(1999)-25541, 2002-84469, and H 10(1998)-243309 disclose techniques designed to display a list of programs in which titles of programs scheduled to be distributed are arranged in a three-dimensional space formed by axes representing a time, a day of the week, a week, and the like. Although these techniques are originally intended to display the list of programs scheduled to be distributed, it is possible to use the techniques to display a list of recorded programs, and thereby, to quickly recognize the distribution date and time of those programs. Moreover, by arranging the titles of the programs in the three-dimensional space formed by the axes representing the time, the day of the week, and the week, it is possible to arrange the titles of the programs in the same line in the case of a drama series to be continuously distributed on the same day every week and at the same time. When a user wishes to view the drama series continuously, for example, the user can select the series of programs easily.
Nevertheless, for example, an episode of the drama series or the like may be distributed at a date and time different from the date and time when the episode is scheduled to be distributed on a day when a baseball game is broadcast live on the same channel, because hours for which the baseball game is broadcast live are prolonged. Moreover, the distribution date and time may be different for a first or final episode of the drama series. As a result, there may be a case when the programs of the drama series are not arranged on the same line in the list even by use of the techniques disclosed in the above described Japanese Patent Applications. In this case, there is a risk of failure to select several of the recorded programs of the drama series. In addition, there is also a problem that it is troublesome to select the recorded programs of the same drama series one-by-one from the displayed list. Recently, a storage capacity of a small-sized storage medium is rapidly increasing. Therefore, consideration has been made for dubbing and saving all the programs of the drama series in a single storage medium. Accordingly, there is a demand that the leaving out of a program from a series of programs as mentioned above be surely avoided.